Paliwal rescues Services on bowlers' day

Services 150 for 6 (Paliwal 66*, Sarabjit 38*, Dayal 4-45) lead Jammu and Kashmir 85 (Yadav 4-35, Nishan 3-26) by 65 runs
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Services progressed marginally ahead of Jammu and Kashmir in Delhi on a day in which 16 wickets fell. A combined effective bowling performance ensured J&K were bowled out for 85, and an unbeaten partnership of 111 runs, led by Rajat Paliwal, allowed Services to recover from 39 for 6 to a position of strength at stumps.

Services lost quick wickets in their reply, and at 39 for 6, were in danger of conceding a lead. The openers were dismissed cheaply by seamer Ram Dayal, who went on to take four wickets, before two other seamers, Mohammad Mudhasir and Sahil Sharma, also joined in to help dismiss Services' six batsmen before half the J&K total was scored. Paliwal, who has been one of Ranji Trophy's prolific run-getters this season, dominated a stand with wicketkeeper Sarabjit Singh, playing 37.2 overs before stumps and regaining their team's advantage in the game.

J&K's innings, on the contrary, didn't have any such resistance shown by any batsman. Dayal top scored with an unbeaten 18, and there were six single-digit scores. Suraj Yadav, Nishan Singh and Shadab Nazar, all pacers, shared all the wickets between them.

Jharkhand 153 for 6 (Tiwary 73*, Sahabuddin 3-31) v Andhra
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In Dhanbad, only 71 overs were bowled due to bad light, in which Saurabh Tiwary's unbeaten 73 mitigated the damage done to Jharkhand by Andhra's bowlers, who dominated them on the first day. Andhra's Syed Sahabuddin inflicted the most damage, taking three of the first four wickets to fall, as Jharkhand were, at a stage, 71 for 6 before recovering to 153 for 6 at stumps.

After being put in to bat, the home side lost three wickets in the first five overs. Ishank Jaggi, and later Amir Hashmi, besides Tiwary, provided some resistance. But at 47 for 5, Tiwary, who had been retired hurt when on 15, returned to bolster the innings. He added 82 runs with keeper Shiv Gautam before close of play.

Himachal Pradesh 210 for 5 (Kumar 76*, Mukesh 73) v Goa
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Himachal Pradesh made a similar poor start to their innings against Goa, after they won the toss and batted, in Porvorim before a revival by middle-order batsmen Amit Kumar and Mukesh Sharma took them to 210 for 5. After Himachal were pegged back at 36 for 4, the duo added 154 runs for the fifth wicket to take their side to a relatively healthy position.

However, 4.5 overs before stumps, Mukesh got out for 73 and the stand was broken. His partner was unbeaten on 76 at stumps. Medium-pacer Gauresh Gawas and spinner Shadab Jakati were the most productive bowlers, taking a couple of wickets each, all in the first session.

Kerala 275 for 5 (Prem 105*, Chanda 3-47) v Tripura
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Kerala managed the best start to their first innings among Group C games, as all their top-order batsmen contributed to a decent first-day total of 275 for 5, with middle-order batsman Rohan Prem going on to score an unbeaten century.

The openers put on 72 runs, before both were dismissed quickly. Prem, then added 57 with No. 3 Robert Fernandez, and later 110 with Pallam Anfal. Besides Prem, no one scored beyond 36 runs. Tripura also gave away 35 runs in extras.